Command
A World Reeling from War 1917 - The treaty of Versailles has been signed, ending the the Great War, the greatest war the world had ever seen at that time. Germany was left a bitter, defeated nation, and the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires were destroyed. France and Britain celebrated in their hard-fought victory, while the United States basked in its newfound economic prosperity. However, in the remains of the defeated Russian Empire, a revolution had recently overthrown the Russian monarchy. After a few years of civil war and ineffective provisional government, the Bolshevik faction had seized control under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, founding the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic. Local Bolsheviks also created the Ukrainian and Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republics, and by 1918 the Bolsheviks were firmly in control. One country, however, remained the main threat to this new regime: the Second Polish Republic. In 1919, Poland had successfully defeated the West Ukranian People's Republic (Not Bolshevist, despite the name) and secured its control over eastern Galicia. Vague boundary definitions dictated by the treaty of Versailles led to many disputed territories, and in 1919 the Polish forces invaded the towns of Maniewicz and Bereza Kartuska, and the Polish-Soviet war begain. Poland suceeded in repelling the Soviet force and c laiming more territory in Belarus and Ukraine. In 1920, Poland launched the Kiev offensive, which was repelled by the RSFSR. The Red Army then moved towards Warsaw, and launched an invasion across the Vistula river. Polish forces under the command of General Wladislaw Sikorski launched a spirited counterattack and repelled the Red Army, after which the Bolsheviks sued for peace. An agreement was drawn up in October 1920, humiliating the RSFSR: a grudge that would be the cause for war decades later. The 1920s After the disasterous Polish-Soviet War, the Soviet Union entered a state of political confusion. In 1922, Lenin appointed the former military officer Joseph Stalin as the General Secretary of the Communist Party, known for ruthlessly dealing with the situation in Soviet-held Georgia. In 1924, Lenin died, leaving a vaccuum of power, in which Stalin ruthlessly consolidated power. Stalin espoused the ideals of Socialism in One Country, in opposition to the World Revolution ideals of Lev Kamanev, Grigory Zinoviev, and Leon Trotsky. Stalin defeated the opposition and forced them to write a letter of submission to Stalinist party doctrine. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union began preparing itself for a possible new war against Poland. Seeing that Western Europe was a mess of governments still repairing from the First World War, with Germany under Paul Von Hindenburg's Weimar Republic, a government under pressure from various political groups. Seeing this state of weakness, in 1925 Stalin authorized the creation of the Stingray Program, a secret Red Army-sponsored program building upon the science of wireless energy transmission of Nikola Tesla. Another secret program, Revolutionary Desire, was started by Stalin in 1926. In this program, Soviet children with noted abilities in persuading others were taken and their talents developed. By 1928, the Soviet Union had bred a select few youths as the first of the Soviet Psychic Program, headed by renown psychic Wolf Messing. The first of these few psychics, known only as Yuri, became a significant force in Soviet politics, although not in a public role; his existence was still kept secret. Meanwhile, in Germany, the Weimar Republic was in political chaos. In 1918, the German Revolution had replaced the Hohenzollern dynasty with a Republic, after the defeat of German Communists. In 1923, the formerly uninfluential National Socialist Party under Adolf Hitler staged the Beer Hall Putsch in an attempt to take over Germany. Hitler and former general Erich Ludendorff led a crowd of about 2,000 into the center of Munich. There, the crowd entered a firefight with about a hundred local policemen in front of the Feldherrnhalle, a local government building. The putsch was quelled by local police with assistance from the military, and Hitler and Ludendorff were captured. Ludendorff was acquitted, but Hitler was sent to Landsberg Prison, in Landsbergh am Lech. Upon Hitler's release from Landsberg, one of the odder incidents of the 1920's occurred: Upon leaving prison, Hitler encountered two men, identities unknown, one an older man with white hair and a thick white moustache, the other bald with a brown goatee. The white haired one shook hands with Hitler, who then, by what few accounts exist, simply disappeared. The two men then walked away. Ludendorff was then left in charge of the NSDAP. Ludendorff believed that the Communist Worker's party of Germany, now with covert backing from Stalin's Soviet Union, was the major threat to the German Nation. Running with this platform, Ludendorff ran in the German presidential elections in 1925 against Paul von Hindenburg. The race was close: Hindenburg won the presidency, but Ludendorff became a significant opposition member. Under pressure from Ludendorff, Hindenburg began a course of minimizing Communist involvement in government, and began to reach out to the League of Nations to seriously consider the threat of Soviet expansion. Several nations, especially Poland, under Josef Pilsudski, supported Germany's proposition. However, Britain and France, the core nations of the League, thought the Soviet Union was not a major threat. Pilsudski and Hindenburg countered that, in case of war, Europe would not have the backing of the United States, now heavily isolationist. Reluctantly, Britain and France conceded, and the European members of the League agreed on the new strategic agreement, the European Alliance. In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin took notice to the newly formed alliance. Stalin's Five Year Plans were drastically increased in scale. Even more funds were poured into weapons design, with readily deployable Tesla Coils ready by 1929. Stalin also began the Burrowing Revolution program, designed to genetically mutate ants to a giant size. Four breeds of giant ant were developed, all under top secret supervision in a facility on an island off the coast of Estonia. Stalin also ordered the creation of the Soviet Atomic Bomb Program, based on the ideas of Albert Einstein. Under the advice of a mysterious man referred to in records only as Kane, Soviet scientists created a nuclear bomb ready by 1935. The European Alliance enlisted the help of Albert Einstein in creation of new weapons for a joint allied force. Einstein was especially interested in a matter transportation system, codenamed the "Chronosphere". British military officer Bernard Montgomery was placed under the supervision of the program, with the rising German military officer Gunter von Esling as second in command. The 1930s The 1930s saw a vast amount of militarization on both sides, as both factions in the world were wary of one another, each fearing a successor to the Great War of 1914. Both sides poured massive resources into weapons development in case their fears proved right. In 1931, Stalin began yet another weapons project, the Iron Curtain, under the direction of the young scientist Gregor Zelinsky. This weapon was designed to create a field in concentrated energy intended to protect vehicles and structures. In 1936, one of Stalin's trusted advisors, Sergei Kirov, was killed in an assassination attempt possibly orchestrated by Stalin himself. In response, Stalin began the great purge, ridding himself of several opponents within the communist party. Stalin appointed, among others, Radik Grandenko as supreme commander, Vladimir Kosygin as director of weapons development, and Georgi Kukov as the commander of forces near the Polish border. The European alliance continued to develop the Chronosphere, but research lagged and lagged. This device allowed teleportation over great distances, but was not completed until the mid 1940s. During this time, the Soviet Union supported Communist revolutions in Romania, Hungary, and Finland, in order to prepare for a war Stalin saw as inevitable. The European Alliance did nothing, calling it the "Right of Independent Nations to decide their own governments." The new governments were the People's Republic of Romania, the People's Republic of Hungary, and the People's Republic of Finland. In 1937, after many years of tension and border wars, the Empire of Japan invaded China, starting the Sino-Soviet War. Japanese forces quickly invaded China, and by 1939 a stalemate had been reached. Also in 1937, the Soviet Union invaded China briefly in the Xinjiang War, which was repelled by Chinese General Ma Zhanshan. This gave the Soviet Union yet another enemy to invade once more. The Pre-War 1940's During the late 1930's and early 1940's, relations between the United States and the Empire of Japan had soured significantly. The United States had begun an oil embargo of Japan under direction of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. On December 7th, 1941, the Empire of Japan aggressively stated its contempt of the United States by mounting a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, a United States military base in Hawaii. The Pacific War, as it is known, was a campaign of island-hopping in the Pacific Ocean, fought between Japan and puppet states and their enemies, specifically Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Great Britain, and China. The war dragged on to 1945, with the recapture of the Philippines, the expulsion of the Japanese from China, and the invasion of the Japanese home islands. After the Pacific War, the United States, China, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada proposed the creation of the World Association of Nations with the European Alliance. The European Alliance would continue to exist, and the nonmembers of the WAN would be within a trade and diplomatic agreement with the EA, but would not be subject to military obligations. The Second World War In 1946, Stalin decided that the time had come to gain revenge on the enemies that had humiliated the Soviet Union within past decades. To start his plans of conquest, Stalin began the invasion of China, the force led by Radik Gradenko. Gradenko suceeded in subjugating most of China, and also tested the deadly Sarin nerve gas. Stalin then ordered the invasion of Poland, in retribution for their defeat in the Polish-Soviet War, the revenge they had sought for so long. The Soviet Union pushed in through eastern Poland, led by Georgi Kukov. The Polish city of Torun was the site of another Sarin nerve gas test. Kukov, however, was unable to kill all witnesses to the test, and was ordered by Stalin to kill all civilians, an event later known as the Torun Massacre. The Soviet Union then founded the puppet state, the People's Republic of Poland, run by prominent Polish communist Wladyslaw Gomulka, The People's Republic declared secession from the European Alliance, and joined the newly created "Warsaw Pact", an alliance of the Soviet Union, Poland, and other Eastern European socialist states. The European Alliance responded, sending forces into Germany in case of a German invasion. Gunter von Esling was appointed supreme commander of the Allied forces, with upstart Greek soldier Nikos Stavros as his second in command. Einstein's Chronosphere was put into heavy testing, to prepare against what they saw as an aggressive act by the Soviet Union. In June 1946, the Soviet Union confirmed the European Alliance's fears by invading Germany through East Prussia and Prussia Proper, also attacking Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Greece. This lead to a declaration of war by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, German President Franz von Papen, French President, Albert Francois Lebrun, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, King George II of Greece, and others. The Second World War was on. Soviet forces pushed into Germany, easily deflecting a German attack. The Red Army marched on into Berlin, capturing the city in September. Soviet forces were also able to briefly capture Albert Einstein in his Black Forest base, but was freed by an Allied task force. However, the Allied defenders of Berlin were successfully able to navigate through the Sudety Mountains into Poland, and attacking several bridges. Commando Tanya Adams, a mercenary from the United States, proved her ability in this operation. In the Middle East, the Soviet Union pushed through Turkey, a EA member, and also invaded the British Mandate of Mesopotamia and the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon. Turkey was overrun, forcing the Turkish Army to flee to Mesopotamia. In Greece, after the fall of the Kingdom of Bulgaria, the Soviet Union pushed towards Athens, completely overrunning it by 1947. Second in Command of the Allied Forces, Nikos Stavros, was crushed by the fall of his homeland. Simultaneously, Germany was completely overrun, the Battle of Bonn being the turning point of the German theater. Soviet forces marched into the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. In a meeting in Madrid, Spain, the Allied leaders agreed on a policy of "complete and total war" against the Soviet Union. In desperation, the Allied forces allowed the firebombing of Soviet held cities. The firebombing of Dresden was used in Soviet propaganda as a cause to rally the citizens of Germany to the Soviet cause. During a commando raid, Allied commando Tanya Adams was captured in Grodno, Belarusian S.S.R. The Allied powers dispatched a small force which succeeded in rescuing her. From her, the Allied High Command learned of the Soviet Iron Curtain project. Soon, the Allied forces were being given more funding from the British, under new Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Spain, Portugal, and one other major source: the United States. United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized the Lend-Lease Act after the fall of Germany. The provision of aid from the United States, just shy of an outright declaration of war, is said to be a turning point in the war, occuring in march 1948. In June of 1948, the Allied Powers stepped up their offensive in Norway, Austria, Western Germany, and Yugoslavia. Allied forces were successful in taking out a Soviet naval base in the Agean, and also liberated Mesopotamia, Syria, and Turkey. Allied forces also suceeded in toppling the People's Republic of Hungary, taking Budapest. Norway and Sweden were liberated shortly thereafter. In Leich, Austria, Albert Einstein was undergoing the final preparations for the deployment of the Chronosphere. Soviet stragglers left there after the Soviet withdrawl to Poland attempted to destroy the weapon, but failed. Soviet forces were in full retreat, having lost Germany, Poland, Finland, Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Mesopotamia. The Allies began to concentrate on the one target that would end the war: Moscow. By February 1949, the Allied powers had been slogging through Central and Eastern Europe to Moscow, to little avail. The remainder of 1949 was a long, slow march, culminating in the taking of Minsk and Helsinki. As the war spilled into 1950, the Allied High Command, under von Esling, gave the demand for an unconditional Soviet surrender. Premier Stalin, however, refused such a demand, saying the Soviet Union would "Fight to the Last Man and Rocket". In late 1951, another major turning point of the war occurred: Soviet scientist Vladimir Kosygin defected to the Allies, disillusioned with Stalin's command of the war, and gave his location in Riga, Lativa. The Allies launched the Baltic Campaign to rescue him and take out a valuable Soviet supply base area. The Allies succeeded in taking Lithuania, East Prussia, Latvia, and Estonia by 1952, when Kosygin was rescued. In Estonia, one of the odder incidents of the war was the Allied attack on the Soviet Island off the coast, where research was being conducted for the Burrowing Revolution project. Giant Ants, cultivated by the Soviet Union, were inadvertantly set loose, attacking both Allied and Soviet forces. A temporary truce defeated the ants. After the rescue of Kosygin, the Allies gained access to a wealth of Soviet intelligence information. Most importantly, Kosygin disclosed the existence of a Soviet weapon being developed deep within the Ural mountains: the Nuclear Bomb, based on designs by Einstein himself. The Allied forces covertly snuck a force into the Urals and assaulted the base, destroying it. However, the Allies could not celebrate that victory: the Soviet Union succeeded in launching nuclear bombs on Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Prague, Warsaw, and Rome, destroying all of those cities. Another bomb was launched towards London, but the warhead never detonated, a symbol of how perilous the assault was. The Allied forces were left reeling, having lost countless troops and hardware. However, the bombings gave the Allies an unexpected boost: The United States of America severed relations with the Soviet Union, and declared war. American forces and supplies began flowing through to Europe, and also invaded Siberia. In late 1952, the Soviet Union was in dire straits: Allied forces were charging through their country in multiple directions. The force coming through west attacked the key Soviet city of Stalingrad, leading to the climatic Battle of Stalingrad, in which Allied forces cleared the city. This was a major strategic victory, as well as a propaganda victory: the Allies secured a path for the navy through the Volga River, while the Soviet Union lost its second city. The United States was busy thundering through Sibera, sacking Vladivostok and liberating China. Meanwhile, a commando raid destroyed a Soviet weapons base with Longbow helicopters. These two victories set the stage for the final, climactic battle of the war: the Battle of Moscow. In January 1953, Moscow had been reached. Commando Tanya Adams, having proved herself in so many operations, was chosen to lead the final attack of the war. Tanya ransacked the outer neighborhoods, leaving a death toll of approximately five hundred. Allied forces stormed the city in a scorched earth campaign, leading to the deaths of two million Soviet soldiers, and up to four million civilians. Eventually, the Allied Powers leveled the Kremlin, burying Stalin, and Allied commander in chief Nikos Stavros personally strangled the dictator. The Second World War was over, but at a great price. The Interwar Years, 1953-1972 Immediately following the Second World War, the Allied Powers had to cope with a world weary from constant total warfare, desperate for peace. The United States and the European Alliance had each become superpowers in their own right, while the Soviet Union was reduced to a shadow of its former self: the Baltic Republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were stripped from the Union, as were the Caucasian Republics of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The question of what to exactly do with the Soviet Union bothered the West. The postwar Soviet government had split into two factions: one demanding a guerilla war against the Allied powers, led by one of the Generals who had led the assault into Europe, Kliment Voroshilov, and a more peaceful faction, led by a populist soldier-turned-activist Alexander Romanov. These two factions conducted scrimmages against each other into 1954, when Romanov's army persuaded the Allied occupational force, led by German general Franz Hadler, that his faction was the way to a lasting peace. Voroshilov was killed by an Allied force in Murmansk, and Romanov, as an award, was placed as the Premier of the Soviet Union, supported by General Michael Dugan, head of the American forces that had invaded Siberia. Under Romanov, the Soviet Union cooperated with the European Alliance and the United States in capturing and extraditing convicted Soviet war criminals, in exchange for the ability to keep a standing army and the trying of several Allied commanders who had murdered civilians during the invasion of Russia. Especially infamous within the Soviet Union was the actions of lieutenant Giovanni Spotinelli, whose campaign through the Ukraine and southern Russia left thousands of civilians dead, including several hundred children, and raped and pillaged through the villiages they came across. As Spotinelli's actions became apparent to the West, support flowed from the West to the Romanov regime in the form of funding, as well as a newfound acceptance. Romanov responded that the Soviet Union would "Break totally with the manic aggressiveness of Stalin and Gradenko." Relations between the West and Romanov's Soviet Union became friendlier and friendlier, with a complete Allied withdrawl from the Soviet Union in 1955. In the wake of the withdrawl, the Soviet Union struggled to maintain its legitmacy with neo-Stalinist rebels. In response, Romanov authorized "Project Sharpened Sickle" to upgrade the aging Soviet Army. In 1956, the Soviet Union unveiled the Rhino Tank, the V4 Rocket Launcher, and the Flak Trak APC. Within a year, Romanov's government had crushed the Neo-Stalinist rebellion, and cemented controll over the Soviet Union. In the middle to late 1950's, the European Alliance had begun to experience frustration with rebellions in the British Mandate of Mesopotamia, the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon, and Italian-controlled Libya. Rebel Leaders in these nations demanded independence from their colonial powers, citing that they had fought the Soviet Union valiantly, and deserved independence. After a year of frustrating guerilla war, the European Alliance granted independence to Iraq, Syria, and Libya, under independent governments. These governments were staunchly anti-western and pro-Arab nationalist, with strong sympathies to the Soviet Union after the end of the occupation. After these revolutions, the United States provided massive amounts of aid to Libya, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, saying it was the "obligation of great powers to help new, smaller nations". Under President Dwight David Eisenhower, the United States sold massive amounts of weapons to the Middle Eastern countries. The European Alliance strongly objected, leading to a feeling of hostility between Europe and the US. In 1964, the Soviet Union under Romanov attempted to increase its standing with the rest of the world, creating the World Socialist Alliance with Bulgaria, Romania, Poland (Which had elected a Communist Government in the 1950's, to a reaction of disbelief), Libya, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. Another attempt to impress the world was found through diplomatic wrangling: the hosting of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Originally, the 1964 Olympics were to be held in Tokyo, but a man known only as "George" persuaded the OIC otherwise. During the 1964 Olympics, the Soviet Union championed the "Ability of the Working Man to Triumph over Oppression". The hosting of the Olympics in the Soviet Union was immediately controversial, as both the European Alliance and the United States were quite skeptical of the Union's intentions, but they nontheless sent athletes. A moment of controversy was Premier Romanov's refusal to shake the hand of a German athlete, saying "The European Alliance has undoubtedly brainwashed and drugged this athlete into winning. I refuse to recognize talent where there is none. The Working Man shall prevail". After the incident with the athlete, Romanov came under great suspicion that it was going against his previous commitment to remain friendly with the Western powers. Relations soured even more when Romanov began demanding "Complete Western Withdrawl from the occupied Republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania". Those three countries, forcibly detached from the Union after the Second World War, were stubbornly independent, refusing membership in the European Alliance, and also refused to acknowledge Romanov as the legitimate Soviet leader, bewildering the United Nations by maintaining that Vladimir Cyrillovich, pretender to the throne of the Russian Empire, as the Tsar of the nonexistent Russian Empire. Romanov openly demanded the reacquisition of the Baltic States, to the fears of several in the European Alliance high command. Romanov, however, stated that "If our Union is allowed to retake this territory without incident, there will be no blood shed between the Alliance and the Union." Wary of the possibility of another war of the magnitude of the Second World War, the European Alliance aquiesced to Romanov's demands, allowing them to invade the Baltics without incident. The Soviet Union reabsorbed the three republics with little frustration. The international community was outraged, even though, nominally, the European Alliance accepted the move. The Soviet Union was chastised by several powers, including a minor rebuke by the United States. In 1965, the Soviet Union appalled the world by withdrawing from the United Nations, and the rest of the World Socialist Alliance withdrew shortly thereafter. The world then began to polarize into three camps: the United States, the European Alliance, and the Soviet Union. In 1966, the Soviet Union began selling weapons to the neutral but communist-leaning government of Mexico, led by President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, including Rhino Heavy Tanks, Flak Track APCs, and V4 Rocket Launchers. These vehicles were originally intended to be used for border security with Guatemala and Belize, but a man known only as "Jorge" persuaded Ordaz to place them in military bases in Sonora, Chihuahua, and other states on the northern frontier. In 1967, the Soviet Union reached a deal with Cuba under Fidel Castro, who had overthrown Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Castro personally arranged that Cuba acquired multiple Typhoon-Class Attack Submarines and Sea-Scorpion Class Anti-Air Ships. Romanov and Castro, together, also demanded a United States withdrawl from Guantanamo Bay. United States President Lyndon B. Johnson agreed to the measure, saying that "There is no need to have a constant threatening gaze towards a peaceful nation." In 1968, the Red Navy established a naval base in Gdansk, Poland on the Baltic Sea. The Red Navy equipped said base with massive amounts of dreadnoughts, submarines, and other weapons. Simultaneously, the Red Army set up classified bases in Krakow, Lwow, and other cities in western Poland. Romanov dismissed these bases as "Nothing for the international community to worry about." Other naval bases were established in Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. In 1970, Romanov unveiled several new military technologies: the Tesla Trooper, based off of the Shock Troopers of the Second World War; the Apocalypse Tank, based off of the Mammoth Tank; and the Kirov Airship, an entirely new design, and intended to skirt around the postwar ban on Soviet Airplane construction - the Kirov was not technically a "Plane". In 1973, the Soviet Union proposed a series of joint exercises with the United States in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Romanov supported the gesture in a statement, saying that "These exercises are a testament to the great friendship between the two great nations of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America, and to the fact neither shall allow itself to be exploited by a foreign power," a comment obviously directed at the European Alliance. By May 1973, the Soviet Union had began sending massive fleets from Gdansk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and Vladivostok into the oceans. On May 17th, the Soviet and American fleets met in friendship. However, when the American command ships fired dummy shells as a friendly gesture, the Soviet ships responded quite differently: the Soviet Navy opened fire on the American ships. Simultaneously, without warning, the Soviet Union invaded Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California from Mexico. The Third World War had begun. The Third World War Ultimately, the Third World War was the Soviet Union's plan to gain revenge against the United States for cementing the Allied victory in the Second World War. Upon the suprise attack, Premier Romanov announced to the world that "Now is the time for the Soviet Union to reclaim its rightful place in the world, and secure the fate of the worker as free from tyranny and oppression". United States President Michael Dugan, a veteran of the Second World War, reacted in shock upon being informed of the invasion by supreme commander Thorn Carville. Dugan pleaded to Romanov to end the invasion, citing the fact that it was with Dugan's help that placed Romanov in power. Romanov brushed his concerns aside, countering with the brutal treatment of Soviet civilians in the Eastern Front of the Second World War. Dugan ordered the use of the United States nuclear missile stockpiles on the Soviet Union proper, but the missiles malfunctioned, detonating in their silos and killing anyone near. The United States was faced with a costly, long war ahead of it. The Soviet invasion force landed along the West Coast, bombarding Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, and other major cities. The civilian body count was devastating, with 5 million civilians dead by July. Soviet brutality came to mass attention in late July, when a gang of 5 Soviet soldiers marched into Franklin High School in Portland, massacred several students and staff, and raped several female students. This incident led to a massive spike in enlistments into the United S tates Army. Simultaneously, the Soviet Navy began bombarding several areas on the East Coast, including New York, Boston, Trenton, Washington D.C., Raleigh, Charleston, Atlanta, Savannah, Tampa, Talahassee, and Jacksonville. In New York, American agent Tanya Adams, having returned from Europe in the late 1950's, took up arms again against the Soviet Navy, succeeding in the destruction of four dreadnoughts, but not before the destruction of the Statue of Liberty. Soviet forces also thundered through from the Mexican border, overwhelming the undefended states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, and naval forces left from the Yucatan to Florida. Soviet forces were able to reach as far as Colorado Springs in July 1973, the culimination of the "Long March to Colorado", a Soviet army campaign intent on driving the United States in two. St Louis, Missouri was placed under occupation in an attempt to control the Mississippi. The Soviet forces, under a general known only as Vladimir (Soviet archives, before, during, and after the war is sketchy as to his name; it is known he was ethnically Chuvash) began the invasion of the East Coast through Florida. Bombing raids were conducted over major cities such as Talahassee, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, and others. A large landing force, deposited in the Florida Keys in 1972, made its way from the South into Virginia, encountering heavy resistance along the way. The Soviet forces were aided by African-American partisan forces that objected to the antebellum South's Jim Crow laws which discriminated against them, and specifically hated the quelling of the Civil Rights movement, led by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. The Nation of Islam, under Loius Farrakhan, was an ardent supporter of the Soviet invasion, saying the force was a "gift of God." Farrakhan later met with Romanov and Vladimir. This invading Soviet force reached Arlington, Virginia, a part of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, and partially razed the Pentagon, the building which housed the supreme command of the United States armed forces, and subsequently crossed the Potomac River into the District itself. The Soviet occupation of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area is considered one of the most brutal occupations in human history, rivalling that of the Allied occupation of Russia during the Second World War. The counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William, as well as the City of Alexandria, were turned into what were essentially concentration camps. Postwar surveillance has estimated approximately 3 million dead within the region during the occupation period. The State of Florida was put under a heavy blockade in which any Allied or Civilian ship attempting to flee the United States was destroyed in a fire of missiles from Soviet dreadnoughts. The ensuing pillage of the Florida coast resulted in even more civilian and military deaths. A Soviet military base was established in Miami. In the Southwest, the Soviets faced the prospect of desert warfare, a situation the Arctic-based Soviets were not accustomed to. Soviet high command was forced to heed the advice of leaders from the Middle East who were sympathetic to the Soviet cause, such as Libyan Moammar al-Gaddaffi, Egyptian Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Syrian Shukri al-Quwatili, all of whom wanted to see the United States destroyed. The Soviets faced significant hardships in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, home of both stifling desert heat and nationalistic American partisans. It was in Texas that the "second Alamo" took place, in which the building itself was saved but its occupants murdered brutally. These occupants were refugees. It was during this time period the Soviet Psychic Corps, under its engimatic leader Yuri, was constructing his own Psychic Beacons in several major American cities. The first of these was built on Alcatraz Island, California, and other devices were constructed in Denver, San Francisco, Las Vegas, El Paso, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Austin, Houston, Arlington, Little Rock, St. Louis, Peoria, Chicago, Memphis, Louisville, Frankfurt, and eventually Washington itself after its fall. After the fall of Washington, the American government was permitted to form a government-in-exile in Brantford, Ontario, by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, to the objection of the Canadian House of Commons, which was officially neutral in the war. A massive protest in Brantford by antiwar Canadians had to be quelled by police using tear gas and batons. As a result, Trudeau gave Dugan sixty days to be able to begin reconquest of their country. While in Canada, American military intelligence discovered the existence of a massive psychic beacon in Chicago, Illinois, constructed with the intention of brainwashing the entire country. A force was successful in destroying the psychic beacon (after much destruction of the Windy City), but failed in creating a foothold; Chicago was destroyed in a nuclear strike shortly thereafter. Category:Red Alert universe fanon